In an attempt to lure customers interested in the MacBook Air but turned off by its super high price, Acer and HP have cut prices on their ultrabooks. Acer’s Aspire S3 is now $648. The 13-inch ultraportable sports 4GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive with a 20GB solid-state drive, a 13.3 1,366×768 display, and a 1.40GHz Intel Core i3-2377M processor. It also offers USB 3.0. a 5.5 hour battery and Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.

HP’s offering, the 14-inch Envy, is available for $699. It sports similar specs to Acer’s, but offers the 1.50GHz Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 processor, a 500GB HD and 32GB SDD, and up to 7 hours of battery life.

There may be those quick to point out that the MacBook Air is still superior, but both of these ultrabooks sport impressive specs and for those not willing to pay $500 or more extra for it, may be a more than suitable alternative. It’s even speculated that the prices of these ultrabooks may go below $600 just in time for the holidays.